18/09/2008 by Gerry.

A fell race in hilly but perhaps not considered by the purist as a mountain environment. This was a long race - 19miles and about 4,500 feet of climb. A small contingent from Chepstow took part with Matthew Lawson the first of the club to finish in a good time of 2 hours 58 minutes.

This was my second attempt at the race - the first time I gave up at Lawley - about 2/3 of the way through - but this time managed to complete the full distance. I’m not too proud of the time 4 hours and 3 minutes - but at least I completed it.

There were 5 longish climbs on the route and a bit of route finding with some mist on top. The conditions meant that I pushed on the first section to keep in touch to avoid the need for my own active navigation, but I did get the compass out towards the end to make sure I was on route. It was long and hard - I wasn’t in full form on the day - and crawled into the finish.

Perhaps this is a good event as a first long fell race - never too far from civilisation. I still reckon the wilder events in the Brecons and Black Mountains are more of a challenge and more in keeping with the true fell running ethos. Look out for the Black Mountains due in a few weeks time. For more info please contact Sue or Gerry ashton.

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24/07/2008 by Gerry.

Syd has been busy going over his personal records and these have been the basis of a major update to the club records. Please have a look and advise me of any errors - use the form to claim your records.
Men’s Records
Women’s Records
Claim Form

(Apologies but when you close the form you get left on Club Events and Results Page)

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15/07/2008 by Gerry.

Chepstow men’s and women’s teams both won in Islwyn on 15th July.
Results from the race
Scores to date
Well done to all who ran.

Posted in Leisure Centre League | No Comments »

02/07/2008 by Gerry.

Now updated with the official results via Eric. Perhaps someone will edit this with a more detailed commentary - too late at night for me!

I remember the race from last year and despite that I turned up for another go. The walk from the car park seemed bad enough but was only a taster of the hills to come. Someone said there were only 2 hills - I think they were a bit economical with the truth. Anyway, we had a good turnout and my quick glance at the results suggests we won the men’s competition. Well done to all who competed. Official Results , Cumulative Results after 3 races

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27/04/2008 by Gerry.

The weather was better than I expected, the race went without a hitch and a good time was had by all. Well done to Martin Pengilly as the race director and to all his team.

The website has been updated with the results but you can also find them here:

Results

Links to Pictures -
Start
First Steep Descent
Lemmings Leap
Finish
Presentations

Posted in Races | 2 Comments »

11/04/2008 by Gerry.

Thanks to Vanessa and the other helpers. Results posted. Handicap Page

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09/04/2008 by Gerry.

Once you’ve done the Handicap on 10th April all are welcome at The Bell Hanger for a celebration, commiseration, feedback drink and / or curry.
Lou.

Edit: actually, you don’t have to have run the Handicap to come along to the Bellhanger - friends, Romans and countrymen are all invited. People ought to start arriving from 8:30pm, with food apparently available until 11pm there’s plenty of time to get the protein/carbs re-loading started… 

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06/04/2008 by Gerry.

From Ivan
For all of us lucky enough to make the April edition of the club champs it all began by waking up to snow in Chepstow – as we all know that doesn’t happen very often and normally means there must be a ‘shed load’ of snow everywhere else! However for once this wasn’t the case, and what there was melted quickly… aaah.
On a personal front I wasn’t running but was happy to dish out advice along the lines of ‘you won’t need many layers, you’ll heat up running!! – no thermals required. Although after walking over to the hall and back to the car – I along with many others were changing thier opinions on this. Except as ever for Lou who stripped off to the customary crop top ready for the start.
Meanwhile – I got my bike out of the car ready for a nice easy cycle to strategic locations to spectate and take photos.
Race started at 11.00 – pretty promptly I believe, first vantage point was at the end of the first road section (after ~1k), by which point the field was spread enough so that cornering appeared pretty accident free. No surprises that Martin came through at this point as the leading harrier – closely followed by ‘Satnav Mark’ and all of the usual suspects thereafter, Sam and Lou had already begun what would become a battle of downhill vs. uphill speed which would change frequently throughout the 10 miles.
Next point was the first road crossing of the race, by which point Satnav had pulled something out of the bag and snuck past Martin (suffering from a chest infection I believe) with Matthew Stott chasing them down, Steve.H with Matthew.L closely in pursuit. Lou had pulled ahead of Sam, Pete.H chasing Becky.M, Gerry.A pushing hard to stay in front of Sue.A (carrying an injury I believe – sorry Gerry) with further battles still going in the field, Dave.A closely pursuing Geoff.B with I believe Jenni & Vanessa close behind. (Sorry Jenni for one reason or another totally failed to get any pictures). Oh and of course Grubby and Aunty Mary were having a great battle of wills!
Another road crossing – just after the first (I think) proper hill, steep (and long as I have been told – didn’t look very long to me on the OS map!) – Grubby & Matthew I know you’ll be saying they weren’t hills – mere inclines! Everyone was looking a bit slower at this point but looking forward (if they were aware) to a long downhill section through woodland. Titanic battle … – Sam had forged her way past Lou on the uphill section and reached the road just in front, this must have changed once again in the following downhill.
Then they had a good long downhill section – which must have been pretty quick as I didn’t quite have time to get to the next point to see the leading Chepstow runners passing through the ‘river’ crossing (ok it’s not what we’d normally call a river – living by the Severn & the Wye). I guess the photo’s will speak for themselves at this stage. I believe this was probably at about the 6/7 mile mark with a few more hills en route back towards the finish.
All in all a great day and good performances all over and enjoyed by most (I think), as ever the women out performed the men picking up prizes in SL 2^nd (Sam.M), FV35 1^st (Becky.M), FV40 1^st (Louisa.S), FV50 2^nd (Sue.A), FV55 2^nd (Jane.B) and the Women’s team prize. The Mens team were as ever well represented by Syd picking up MV70 1^st, and despite the lack of other individual placings managed to secure the team prize as well.
Link to Results
Link to Ivan’s Pictures

Posted in Championship, Races | No Comments »

31/03/2008 by Gerry.

Found on the Runner’s World website Link to file
Any who want to try this great sport should read this first.

Posted in Fell Running | No Comments »

30/03/2008 by Gerry.

From Louisa

New Training Project

Following the success of the 10k training group, training for a specific type of race has been offered to all members.

Looking at the results of the opinion poll it was decided that specific training for both a 10k road race and off road race (Cotswold Way and Race the Train) would be provided.

This Tuesday (April 1st) will be the first session of the training project.  Slips will be given out before training to let us know if you want to join the 10k or off road group.

You will also be given a training questionnaire and individual training schedule to take home with you - you may want to leave time to put these in a locker/car before training

Tuesday 1st April

10k training

6 x 800m drills on the field - the track has not been marked yet but we have devised an 800m circuit.

Off Road Training

Will incorporate fartlek principles with up and down hill training.

To run your best in long distance races you are constantly trying to run around your lactic acid threshold.  The aims of fartlek (speed play) training are:

1. To increase the heart rate at which lactic acid is produced.

2.  For your body to cope better with lactic acid in its system and to process it more efficiently.

We have devised a circular route in P Park with uphill, downhill and flattish sections. The aim will be

Push hard up hill - to raise lactic acid levels

Maintain a steady aerobic pace along the flat - when lactate can be used by the body

Fast pace downhill ( build up lactic acid)

Steady pace again on the flat before starting the loop again with the uphill.

It was quite wet at Piercefield Park today - for the off road option it would be good to have some grip - off road shoes!

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